Synopsis
Josephine Halloway is a nursing student at the perilous edge of an emotional abyss. We first meet her on the night of her twenty-first birthday, at a party organized by her over-protective mother, Frances, and oppressed father, Martin. As the celebration gathers momentum downstairs, we find Josephine upstairs, adrift in a surge of lacking, ready to harm herself and contemplating putting an end to her life.
Searching desperately for her untraveled path of discovery, Josephine stumbles across a secretive ward on the top floor of the hospital where she works as a student nurse. In the darkest corners of her emptiness, she meets Jack Bridges -– a boy who, in contrast to herself, lacks everything that is tangible, but is a rich emotional counterpart to Josephine’s intangible needs and wants.
Jack suffers from Lou Gehrig’s Disease, affecting his mobility and freedom -– an incurable disease that, ultimately, will consume him from the inside-out. But despite Jack’s dire physical predicament, his life embodies joy, adventure and a boundless spirit – epitomizing all of Josephine’s deepest desires.
Josephine is instantly drawn to Jack’s struggle. Joining forces with Ellie, the clandestine ward’s nightshift nurse, Josephine allows herself to be immersed in the ward’s mystery, in its eccentric patients and in Jack -– all the while forging an unfamiliar courage to silence the blue devils screaming inside her own head.
Her growing independence is not lost on her mother or her boyfriend, Skemmer Morse. Each with their own selfish, ulterior motive, Frances and Skemmer conspire to thwart Josephine’s chance to find her better self.
When the hospital is alerted to Josephine’s midnight adventures on the top floor, she finds herself having to make the impossible decision to never see Jack again.
After a lifetime of being disparaged and overpowered his wife, Josephine’s father, Martin, must engineer enough courage to stand up for his daughter at this critical moment and unearth inroads into Josephine’s true feelings in order to empower his daughter to listen to her heart and find a way back to her true feelings -– and back to Jack.
Facing merciless pressure from Frances and Skemmer, Josephine must find her inner strength if she is to defeat not only the scheming enemies determined to force their needs upon her but, more importantly, to defeat her own inner demons and self-doubt. When Josephine has nothing left to live for, she must somehow find the bravery, meaning and resolve to carry on and save the boy she loves.
Josephine needs to harness what she has learnt on her journey to combat Jack’s unthinkable destiny. But can Josephine seize enough tenor in making the ultimate sacrifice to vanquish the unrelenting horde of blue devils thrusting her to self-destruction? Her absolution lies in confronting the biggest challenge of her life, but…
How far will she go for love?
